WASHINGTON - America's largest tobacco companies must inform consumers that cigarettes were designed to increase addiction, but not that they lied to the public about the dangers of smoking, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a partial win for cigarette makers in the long-running legal fight that began in the Clinton administration in 1999. In this latest round, the companies objected to running court-ordered advertisements that would have branded themselves as liars.

Toyota promisesto help find cause of air bag defect

TOKYO - Toyota vowed to help pinpoint the cause of a defect in air bags used in more than 50 million vehicles worldwide, saying the auto industry risks losing the trust of car buyers if the problem drags on un-resolved.

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The air bags, made by Takata Corp. of Japan, can deploy with too much force, potentially causing injury or even death.

Venezuela's currency loses a quarter of its value this week

CARACAS - A staggering plunge in the free-market value of Venezuelan currency sent people scrambling to sell off their depreciating bolivars Friday.

DolarToday, a widely followed website that tracks exchanges made near the Colombian border, reported that the bolivar had lost a quarter of its value over the last seven days.

Everyone in smartphone-obsessed Caracas seemed to learn of the crash at the same time as the DolarToday app, a ubiquitous tool in the South American country, sent out a series of messages announcing the new rates under the headline "Hyperinflation!"

Core consumer prices have 3rd straight rise

WASHINGTON - Core consumer prices outside of food and energy posted the biggest increase in April in more than a year, suggesting that an improving U.S. economy is finally starting to lift prices.

Overall consumer prices rose 0.1 percent for the third straight climb, the Labor Department said Friday. Overall gains were held back by a 1.3 percent drop in energy costs.

But excluding food and energy, core inflation rose 0.3 percent in April, marking the biggest one-month increase since January 2013. That means core inflation has risen at an annual rate of 2.6 percent over the past three months - the fastest pace in four years.

Deal by Target, MasterCard fails to win support

A $19 million deal between Target and MasterCard to settle lawsuits stemming from the retailer's massive pre-Christmas 2013 data breach has been scrapped, because it failed to get enough support from the affected banks and credit unions.

While the rejection sends the companies back to the drawing board, advocates for the financial institutions said they were pleased, saying the deal would have provided compensation for just a fraction of the losses.

In other news

Solid sales of its construction equipment offset a global agricultural slowdown for Deere.The company also raised its outlook for the year.

The operator of an adult dating website, AdultFriendFinder.com, said Friday it's investigating a potential security breach, after reports that hackers stole names, email addresses and information about the sexual preferences of up to 4 million members.